6 October 2010 - Raw in War 2010 Anna Politkovskaya Award

SOLD OUT THIRD PARTY EVENT: RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR) presents the 2010 Anna Politkovskaya Award

Date:October 6, 2010 9:00 PM

An Event Organised by RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR).(followed by a drinks reception)To book a seat, please see here and RSVP the names of those attending to: Amy Greenbank Email: info@rawinwar.org

This year on 6th October the fourth Anna Politkovskaya Award will be hosted by prominent UK journalist, Jon Snow of Channel 4 News and presented by Leila Alikarami (Iranian lawyer who received the 2009 RAW in WAR Anna Politkovskaya Award on behalf of the One Million Signatures Campaign in Iran) to a courageous woman human rights defender from the conflict in Darfur (Sudan).

We will be remembering Anna and Natalia and their work in pursuit of the truth with Lord Frank Judd, Elena Kudimova (Anna's sister), Gillian Slovo, Eva Hoffman, Mariana Katzarova (founder of RAW in WAR), and many others who knew Anna and Natalia. We will celebrate the courage of the new award winner with Louis Moreno Ocampo (Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court) and other prominent advocates for justice in Darfur. The audience will join with the acclaimed musicians from Cellorhythmics and others in remembering Anna and Natalia, two special and brave women, and in honouring the work of the new award winner.

The annual award ceremony evening is a special event at which artists, musicians, human rights supporters, journalists, friends and colleagues come together to remember Anna on the anniversary of her murder. This year previously unseen footage from Darfur about the work of this year's award winner will be screened. A special reading from Anna and Natalia’s writing and from the writing of the new award winner will be performed by members of the Committee of Supporters for the Anna Politkovskaya Award, which includes a group of more than 100 influential cultural, media and political leaders from around the world.

The RAW in WAR Anna Politkovskaya Award celebrates women human rights defenders from conflict zones in the world who, like Anna, stand up for the victims, often at great personal risk. On the 7th of October 2006, Russian investigative journalist, who exposed the truth about the war in Chechnya, Anna Politkovskaya, was killed in Moscow. On the eve of 7 October, to mark the anniversary of her murder and to honour Anna and other women like her in the world, RAW in WAR presents the annual Anna Politkovskaya Award. Anna lived a life of courage and truth-telling in the face of grave danger, just like her friend and the first recipient of the Anna Politkovskaya Award, Natalia Estemirova, who was murdered on 15 July 2009. In 2008, Natalia Estemirova had presented the second Anna Politkovskaya award to the courageous young parliamentarian from Afghanistan, Malalai Joya, with the words: "Malalai, be brave".

RAW in WAR (Reach all Women in WAR) is an international human rights NGO, which aims to support women human rights defenders working in countries in war and conflict, and to help end abuse and persecution against them, as well as to strengthen their work in areas of conflict, or “forgotten conflict”, where there is limited or no support from the major humanitarian agencies and organizations.

Cellorhythmics was formed by James Hesford and Alfia Nakipbekova in the early 1990s. Alfia was born in Kazakhstan and studied at the Moscow Conservatoire with Mstislav Rostropovich. In London she received a series of master classes from Jaqueline du Pré. James is an award winning composer, who also writes for his two critically acclaimed ensembles Cellorhythmics and WCM Orchestra. Listen to Cellorhythmics here.